Vintage Button Earrings Tutorial

I was in an art sale a couple weeks ago at my school and got a great response.  I had some earrings made from vintage buttons I've procured from over the years that went over really well and I thought I'd do a quick how-to so you can throw some together yourself!  They are super simple and the possibilities are only inhibited by your own creativity.

Gather your supplies!

-Couple sets of pliers
-Buttons
-2 medium jump rings
-2 small jump rings
-2 french hoops 

Take a medium jump ring and open it up with your pliers. Be really gentle and hold one side steady while you move the other side straight back. Try not to twist it open apart, they can be a pain to get back into shape if you go all wonky with it. 

Put your button on to the jump ring. Make sure you can close it with enough room to attach the next ring. I've had to go another size up before, all depends on how far away the button's hole is to the edge. 

Close it up!

Open the smaller jump ring just like the medium one before it.

Put your medium jump ring, with button attached, onto the new smaller one. 

Add your french hook onto the still open small jump ring. Make sure you take a second and think about which side will be facing out. This is only important when you have two different sides to your button. I do in this case. 

Tada! You have an earring! Now do it again! 

A pretty pair of vintage button earrings! Hope you liked it!  Now go to Salvation Army or Goodwill, grab a giant bag of buttons for $1 and get to work.

Etsy Giveaways

So Etsy Giveaways Blog is my new favorite thing.  I found out about a while ago and added it to my Google Reader right quick.  Everyday, post blogs about giveaways that Etsy sellers are having on their own blogs.  I've used them before and saw that my own readership increased because of it!  I've also won some really cool stuff because of it too.

Pandacub Cafe offered up some goodies a few weeks ago and I totally won!  I love her shop and blog, so I was really excited.  She even let me swap out part of prize for a pair of earrings that I had hearted in her shop...and wear them all the time.  I already gave my sister the pair of blue panda pony tail holders (I kept the pink ones) and the bobby pins are going to be a perfect birthday gift for a cousin that may or may not be reading this, so I'll keep it on the DL.  

I've also won a couple other pairs of earrings and a necklace, so I'll try and keep up and post them here.  Until then, please visit Pandacub's Shop!  You'll love everything, I promise ^_^

Paint Chip Earrings

I have a problem with paint chips.  I gravitate towards them in any store and stare longingly at the beautiful colors and combinations.  Too bad I live in an apartment where I can't change the wall color, therefore rendering the pretty chips useless to me.  It just bothered me that such a wonderful and free resource had no purpose, then I saw this blog by Jennifer Perkins and got inspired!

What you'll need:

-Paint chips in contrasting colors

-Scissors or a circle cutter

-Hole punch

-Small jump rings

-French Hook ear wires

-Jewelry pliers

Take your paint chips and circle cutter and cut out the larger circle.  Mine is 1 inch, only because that's the size cutter I had.  Come to think of it...I have an even bigger one I use to cut out buttons...I'll use that next time.  When you cut these, make sure you leave a little space between so you can make the most of the chip.  Waste not, want not you know.

Next use the hole punch to cut out the smaller, contrasting color.  I used a corner of the lighter color to go with my darker circle.  Now, after this step, a seasoned jewelry maker/paper crafter will tell you to brush a clear coat of sealer, like Mod Podge, on your circles once you've put them in place.  But I'm wingin' it, so we're totally omitting that whole step.

Now you can poke holes through both the circles.  I didn't glue mine together or anything, just loosey goosey.  After that, just put one jump ring through both circles, another jump ring through that one and then the hook.  Tada!  You've got some super easy, super cute earrings!

I left the back open so you can tell they were made from paint chips.  If you don't like that look, you can easily glue two together for a more finished back.  I would recommend gluing the pieces and letting them dry before cutting them out, you'll get a much cleaner product in the end. 

Hope you like it!  And please send please send pics if you make them!